Patients in hospitals or long-term care facilities often reside in beds disposed between safety rails. Although the use of these safety rails provides some degree of protection against the risk of the patient falling off the bed, these safety rails present their own safety concerns. In some situations, patients prefer to lower the bed rails to increase comfort, disengaging the safety feature and its protective effects.
Patients, especially elderly or “developmentally disabled” patients, frequently self-inflict injuries by trapping their heads, buttocks, legs, feet, hands, arms, torso, or other body parts between the safety rails and the mattress. Degrees and severity of entrapment can vary from patient to patient depending on height, weight, cognitive function, level of ambulatory ability, and other factors. Injuries sustained also vary according to the type and length of entrapment. Bruising, sprains and breaks would result from minor events. More serious injuries, including death, can also occur in cases of prolonged events involving choking or suffocating entrapments. These safety concerns have given rise to a multiplicity of lawsuits against hospitals and long-term care facilities. For example, the Long Island, N.Y. Developmental Disabilities Service Office has been sued at least twice for injuries and or deaths resulting from a patient's entrapment with a safety rail assembly.
The management of one care facility located in Schenectady, N.Y. has discontinued the use of safety rail assemblies in some cases, and now has those patients sleeping on mattresses that have been placed upon the floor. As is apparent, this alternative arrangement is not optimal and presents its own set of problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,721,974 (Safety Equipment for Beds) elaborates on some of the problems and approaches to solving these problems: “Attempts to prevent such injury have included many variants of inflatable or padded supports capable of fitting to, or replacing, the sides of the bed or cot so as to better absorb the impact of the body against the hard structure. An example of this type of support is known from GB2326088A which discloses inflatable tubes, or compartments, which can be fitted to a bed to prevent a person from falling out of bed or from coming into contact with the solid structure of the bed. The tubes are releasably fined to the bed structure by means of ties.”
“However, in solving one problem, this type of solution could introduce an additional difficulty: the bed occupant becoming stuck in the gap described by the interface of the inflatable side support and the mattress. An alternative approach disclosed in GB868320 goes some way to solving this problem of preventing the occupant from becoming stuck in the aforementioned gap, by attaching the mattress to the “safety fence” in such a manner as to eliminate the gap. However, the low sides of this safety fence are designed solely to prevent the occupant from falling out of the bed and not from sustaining injury as a result of contact with nearby solid structure during the course of a fit or other such uncontrolled body movement. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,046 discloses “bumper pads” for fitting to a child's cot with traditional solid surrounds.” The entire disclosure of each of these United States patents is incorporated by reference into this specification.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,698 (Bed Rail Cushion System) also elaborates on some approaches to solving these problems: “Removable padding arrangements for beds are known as illustrated, for example, by U.S. Pat. Nos. 421,656; 3,742,530; 4,215,446 and West German patent 614,367. These siderail padding arrangements are of two general types, the first being where the padding arrangement and the siderail for the bed are an integral arrangement and must be affixed to or removed from the bed together. A second type relates to padding arrangements to cover the existing siderails on hospital type beds with these being a relatively thin flexible padding arrangement which folds over and snaps to the bed siderail. The integral type padding arrangements are inconvenient and not adaptable to a wide variety of currently manufactured beds while the latter variety provide at best inadequate padding and typically allow the patient a gap or space between the bed mattress and the padded rail into which an arm, elbow or ankle may easily slip providing an opportunity for patient injury. It would be highly desirable to have a padding arrangement for a hospital type bed which was readily attached or removed and which completely filled any gap between the mattress and the pad while affording the patient maximum padding protection.” The entire disclosure of each of these United States patents is incorporated by reference into this specification.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,698 (Bed Rail Cushion System) also elaborates on patents with devices and methods that attempt to solve these problems:” The U.S. Pat. No. 6,067,679 discloses a prop to hold a patient on his/her side while in a hospital bed in which a standard-sized hospital pillow is stowed in a rolled condition within a launderable sleeve. The sleeve has a flap that is tucked beneath the patient's side which allows limited patient rolling movement against the prop which contributes to patient comfort. The flap also keeps the prop close to the patient so that drastic movements which could cause injury do not occur. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,863 discloses a lateral slumber support wedge for supporting a user, such as a pregnant woman, in a lateral slumber support, while lying down on either the left side or the right side. The wedge provides compressible, but firm support for the spine and pelvic region of the user. The wedge has a triangular cross section, and an interior body made of foam, which can provide support, but which conforms to the spinal and pelvic regions of the user. The wedge also includes a fabric cover which is permanently sewn to a bed sheet dividing the sheet in half so it can be used by the user lying on either the left or right side. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,205 discloses a body positioner that is formed from a block of polyurethane foam having resilient characteristics capable of deformation and of permitting the passage of air. The positioner has an unsymmetrical pentagonal cross-section and a length substantially greater than its width so that the positioner can be rotated to provide for a variety of adjustable continuous positioning support surfaces.” The entire disclosure of each of these United States patents is incorporated by reference into this specification.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,698 discloses a rigid bed rail cushion system that pads designed to provide a gap-free junction between the padded rails and the bed mattress. The entire disclosure of this United States patent is incorporated by reference into this specification. The disadvantages of these structures has been described above.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,721,974 discloses safety equipment for beds that comprise an inflatable wall structure secured to the sheeting to form a barrier against falling out of bed and a cushion against injury against the bed rails. The entire disclosure of this United States patent is incorporated by reference into this specification. While this device addresses some of the problems in the prior art, it has not proven completely satisfactory.
For example, the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,721,974 requires customized sheeting or certain ties and/or tabs to secure the device while in use. This may be inconvenient or cause additional cost to the user. In addition disclosed are four inflatable walls which are tied (or otherwise secured together) at their respective corners. Thus, in order to facilitate access to the bed or patient within the bed, or to facilitate patient entry or exit to and from the bed, it would be required that at least one side be untied or disengaged.
Additionally, the base of the device is substantially the same size as the mattress placed over or in it while in use. Thus, the manufacturer must make a multiplicity of sizes to accommodate various mattress sizes. Additionally, should a mattress be slightly deformed or manufactured imperfectly, a risk of a gap between the mattress and the wall of the device is created, defeating the very purpose of using the device to prevent gaps and decrease the possibility of entrapment.
Another disadvantage is that some polymeric materials used to manufacture inflatable devices support the growth of bacteria or produce latex-type allergic reactions in some patients.
The present invention, comprised substantially of foam, offers a latex-free, bacteria growth free alternative for the user. Comprised of foam material, it is not subject to failure such as puncture or deflation.
The present invention offers many conveniences to the user. First, it does not require special sheets, ties, or tabs. Standard sheets may be used with the present invention. Secondly, the use of side panels allows the user to incorporate a single panel, or a combination of panels, such that it is not necessary for all sides of the bed to be affixed with safety side panels if such was not desirable or convenient. Thirdly, since the stabilizer of the safety side panel slides under the mattress until it abuts tightly against it, a gap-free fitting to any size mattress may be accomplished without the necessity of multiple sizes or versions, an economic advanatage to manufacturers and distributers.
Fourthly, the cutout section in the safety side panel facilitates patient access without the necessity of the delay or extra steps of disengaging the device. Additionally, without the delay of the inflation steps, the present invention is also time saving to the user during the set-up process. Lastly, the present invention offers a fire retardant cover, meeting safety standards for instutional or infant use.
Similarly, the present invention offers advantages over the crib railing guard disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,873 by incorporating a stabilizer whose width is substantially less than the width of the mattress and is not affixed to the crib railing. Thus, the safety side panel is self-supporting, not requiring the side rails for support or to be disengaged to facilitate access.
Thus, an economical and practical solution to these problems and hazards will provide benefits to both the patients and their caregivers.